Child&#39;s furniture and toy construction



May 1, 1951 TYNG I 2,551,071

CHILDS FURNITURE AND TOY CONSTRUCTION Filed July 7. 1947 s Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.2.

FIG. 1.

FIG.4.

FIG. 6.

INVENTOR, .flnne GHZyZZQ,

. ATTORNEY y 1 5 A. G. TYNG 2,551,071

CHILD'S FURNITURE AND TOY CONSTRUCTION Filed July 7, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR,

' ATTORNE May 1, 1951 G I 2,551,071

CHILDS FURNITURE AND TOY CONSTRUCTION Filed July 7 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR,

ATTORNE Y Patented May 1, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHILDS FURNITURE. AND TOY CONSTRUCTION Anne G. Tyng, Philadelphia, Pa. Application July '1, 1947, Serial No. 759,324

" 4 Claims.

The object oil-the invention is to provide an improved type of toy, thatprimarily comprises a basic number oiv different sections, which alone or in multiples of the sa'me'can be used for the construction of articles of furniture, toys and the like, of such size that children can use them to support their weight, as distinguished from toys that are merely played with as on a table or equivalent support, or even upon the floor, but which are of such small scale as merely to represent larger articles and devices instead of having utilitarian value per se.

Heretofore there have been many toy sets, which permit their several pieces to be assembled in whole or in part, to represent many mechanical devices such as windmills, Ferris wheels, merrygo-rounds and the like, or with which to build cab-ins, houses, schools, etc., in miniature, but always to merely represent the corresponding full-sized objects and incapable of supporting the weight of an ordinary child, or for use by a child in his room or in general play in lieu of standard pieces of furniture, etc.

Another and more specific object, therefore, is to provide a set of elements, such as a wheel, a cross brace, horsehead-rocker, black-board panel and longitudinal element, which can be readily assembled to provide such articles as a stool,

,chair, bench, couch, table, store counter, blackboard, rocking horse, wagon, car, horse-onwheels, pushcart, rocking chair, shelves, bed, house, airplane, etc., two or even more of each element being required for some of said pieces.

From the standpoint of ruggedness and at the same time lightness in weight, it has been found advantageous to cut the several elements of a representative set from sheets of plywood, whether of two, three", four-, or even five-ply, or to mold the elements from a non-grained substance such as plastics or the sawdust waste from sawmills, as well as other materials of relatively diametrical section through the wheel of Fig. 1,

but likewise representing the mu1ti-ply nature of each of said elements; Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are plan views of the horsehead-rocker, cross brace, elongated piece and blackboard elements, respectively; and Figs. '7 to 13 inclusive are perspective views of the blackboard, stool, wagon, chair, table or store counter, benchand rocking. horse, respectivelyI. f In Fig. llis shop 11' a circular disc I ofpreferably though. not necessarily five-plyv plywood, as indi.-. cated in enlarged cross section'in Figi 21 This disc is provided with a central'bore 2 and 'about' its periphery with a plurality of spaced rectangular notches 3,which are preferablyfour in number. When referring to five-plyv plywood, it is to be understood that the invention is by no means limited to this type .and thickness, but. thus far the five-ply product thatis practically standard today has been found to be best suited for the purposes for which said wheel and the other elements are intended For example,,it is suificiently thick, stiff and rigid to supportthe weight of a child at least, and to withstand the hard wear and tear to which toy furniture and toys. in general are subjected. vIn the' future three-ply, for example, may be strong enough for this purposa'and instead of plywood various substitutes may be used such as molded sawdust, cer-' tain plastics and the like, wherefore the termand showing of plywood is to be understoodasterized by the simulation of a horses head 5, the

rear portion of which head is curved to form a.

rocker edge 6, which in this figure is upon theunder side of the head portion. In this position said element presents a' horizontal straight or level edge I, while at the junction of said level edge with said head there is provided a downwardly extending slot 8, a second downwardly extending slot 9 being at the rear of said rocker edge, and a third slot I0 is positioned beneath the rearmost portion of said level edge I and extends forwardly and diagonally downwardly into the body of said element, the purposes of these slots being hereinafter described.

In Fig. 4 i shown a cross brace element I I having an upwardly directed concave edge portion l2 terminating at its opposite ends in a pair of aligned shoulders [3, while in the center of said concave edge portion is a downwardly extending slot i l. The lower portion of said brace element is provided with aligned horizontal surfaces l5,

terminating in shallow slots l6 upon the opposite sides of which are protruding feet ll. In Fig. 5 is shown a longitudinal element is having a straight edge [9, terminating in shallow slots 20 upon the opposite sides of which are shoulders 2 I. Adjacent to the lower edge of this element are two or more apertures through which extend axles 22 with securing pins 23, when said lastmentioned element is used in the construction of an express wagon, such as is shown in Fig. 9.

In Fig. 6 is shown an elongated board-like element 24, which is preferably blacked upon one side surface to provide a so-called blackboard for use with chalk (not shown), either as a toy, an amusement device, or as a means of instructing children with letters, figures, pictures or other such indicia. The four corners of this element are cut out to provide shoulders 25, while the lateral edges 26 are preferably straight and the ends 27 are of any desired shape. It will be noticed that at least some of the various elements are also provided with one or more apertures, which may be of any desired number and arrangement, and through which may be passed twine or wire if desired, as for pulling the wagon (Fig. 9) from place to place, and which aperture in the case of the horses head serves to suggest an eye.

In considering the present invention, it is to be understoodthat the preferred set of elements comprises the five pieces herein illustrated and described, but that in order to form some of the possible pieces of furniture and toys it is necessary to employ two or more elements of the same form, type, or class. For example, the bench or blackboard of Fig. '7 requires two of the horses heads 4, one of the blackboard elements 24 and one elongated element 18, while the stool of Fig. 8 requires one of the wheels I and two of the cross braces H, the latter fitting together in an X-shape. Interchanging the blackboard and elongated elements of Fig. 7 produces a store counter.

Similarly the wagon of Fig. 9 requires four wheels, two elongated elements, one blackboard with its dark surface turned downward if desired, and two cross braces. The chair of Fig. 10 requires two wheels, one horses head element and one cross brace, while the rocking horse of Fig. 13 requires three horses heads and two cross braces. The store counter or sloping table of Fig. 11 requires two of the horses heads, two longitudinal elements and one blackboard, which latter may have its blackened surface turned either upwardly or downwardly. The bench of Fig. 12 by contrast requires one blackboard element, one longitudinal element and two cross braces.

Thus, while seven different pieces of furniture and toys have been shown, it is to be understood that these are purely illustrative, and merely represent the many others that it is considered unnecessary to illustrate in order to convey the scope of the invention in the wide number and shapes of articles which can be formed or assembled by using the basic elements herein described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A set of elements each element of which has notches into which the other elements are adapted to fit, said set comprising a plurality of fiat support panels and a plurality of horsehead rocker elements each comprising in general the silhouette of a horses head and the back of the neck portion of said element being curved and the top of the head being substantially flat, whereby at least one of said flat support panels may be assembled with said horsehead rocker elements to form a rocking horse in which said curvededges of said horsehead rocker elements are utilized to support said rocking horse and a support panel forms a seat or alternatively said elements may be assembled to form a static piece of furniture in which the flat head portion provides support for the flat panels.

2. A set of elements as defined in claim 1 in which one of said fiat panels constitutes a blackboard.

3. A set of elements as defined in claim 1 in which one of the fiat panel elements is substantially circular in contour.

4, A set of elements as defined in claim 1 made of plywood.

ANNE G. TYNG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Germany May 31, 1924 Number Number 

